TUBE TALK: Archuleta ready for college football's big day

The college football season kicks off in a big way Saturday with 28 games, and there will be no shortage of TV coverage.

The day begins with a 6 a.m. kickoff on NBC with Navy-Notre Dame. Why so early? The game is being played in Ireland.

NBC will air a special two-hour pregame show, starting at 4 a.m.

The day will end with San Diego State at Washington. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. on the new Pac-12 Networks.

Kevin Calabro, Adam Archuleta and Yogi Ruth will work the SDSU game.

"This is a heck of a deal to grow the visibility of the Pac-12," said Archuleta, who played at Arizona State and later in the NFL with the Rams, Redskins and Bears.

"And it's a great opportunity for me to get in on the ground floor of something that should be special.

"They're really dedicated to making it top flight."

This is Archuleta's second full year in the broadcast business after his playing career came to an end in 2008.

He worked for Fox Sports Arizona, covering Arizona State, the Arena Football League's Arizona Rattlers and high school football in the Phoenix area.

"For me, the launch of the Pac-12 Networks is perfect," Archuleta said.

"I think I have a good reputation in the game. I have a good connection with coaches. I just love talking ball."

Archuleta said he loves "the grunt work, putting in the time to prepare." He draws parallels to his playing days.

"Really, I loved playing ball," he said. "I loved that first career. Playing was a dream come true.

"I've found that I really love doing TV."

If you're wondering if you get the Pac-12 Networks, here's a tip: You have to be on digital cable and have the sports tier. If you get ESPNU, ESPN Classic, the MLB Network, the NFL Network, the NBA Network and the NHL Network, you get the Pac-12 Networks. Try channel 314 on Cox and 419 on Time Warner.

Fans of high definition will have to wait, but officials say HD is coming to the Pac-12 Networks.

Aztecs' schedule filling

Time Warner will carry all nine San Diego State football games that will be televised this season. Cox has six games. The Aztecs' games against North Dakota State (Sept. 15), San Jose State (Sept. 22) and Fresno State (Sept. 29) will not be televised on either carrier.

More college football

In between the Notre Dame and SDSU games, there are 13 contests involving Associated Press top-25 teams. Only one of those games ---- No. 2 Alabama at No. 8 Michigan at 5 p.m. on ABC ---- matches two top-25 clubs.

There are seven games at 9 a.m. Saturday, including Penn State-Ohio State (ESPN) ---- the first game of the post-Joe Paterno era.

A good Nevada team is at California for a noon game on the Pac-12 Network.

Auburn travels to No. 23 Clemson for a 4 p.m. game on ESPN.

With no NFL on Sunday, there are three college games to fill the void including Kentucky-No. 25 Louisville (12:30 p.m., FSN) and SMU-Baylor (3:30 p.m., FSN and Fox Sports San Diego).

Georgia Tech plays Virginia Tech at 5 p.m. Monday on ESPN.

NFL talk

The NFL regular season kicks off Wednesday with the Cowboys at Giants on NBC in a special edition of "Sunday Night Football." Kickoff is 5:30 p.m. with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth returning as the lead announcers.

Mike Florio will host "Pro Football Talk" ---- a 60-minute NFL show at 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on the NBC Sports Network. The show kicks off Tuesday.

Around the diamond

ESPN made a splash Tuesday with its eight-year, $5.6-billion deal with Major League Baseball.

The deal starts in 2014 and includes all potential regular-season tiebreaker games and will give ESPN either the American League and National League Wild Card game each year.

The deal is a 100-percent increase from its previous contract, and gives ESPN 10 more games and allows teams six appearances on "Sunday Night Baseball" instead of five.

The ESPN deal puts the pressure on Fox, Turner Sports and the MLB Network to pony up.

The NBC Sports Group, which includes NBC, the NBC Sports Network and FX, could also get involved in baseball.

Ratings game

Last Sunday's Panthers-Jets NFL exhibition game on NBC did a 7.5 rating, while Saturday's 49ers-Broncos game did a 5.4 for ESPN. Those were the highest-rated sporting events of the weekend.

Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race in prime time on ABC did a 3.7.

The PGA Tour's first FedEx Cup event, The Barclays, on CBS did a 2.7 Sunday rating.

Without a big-market U.S. team, Sunday's Little League World Series championship on ABC did a 2.2 rating, down 18 percent from last year when Huntington Beach beat Japan.

Around the dial

The U.S. women's soccer team, gold medalists in London, will play a friendly against Costa Rica on Saturday. NBC has the game live at 11:30 a.m. from Rochester, N.Y.

PGA Tour player Chris Riley is the guest host Saturday on "Inside the Ropes", the golf talk show which airs at 8 a.m. on ESPN 1700 AM. Riley and co-host Peter Ripa will be joined by U.S. Amateur champion Steven Fox, who has accepted a sponsor's exemption to play in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines, and former NFL great Lincoln Kennedy.

Fox Sports San Diego released its high school football schedule. Not one game features a San Diego team.

With Monday being a holiday, NHRA fans can see the eliminations of the U.S. Nationals at 9 a.m. on ESPN2.

The NBC Sports Group announced it will carry more than 100 regular-season NHL games on NBC and the NBC Sports Network.